King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden arrived in Mexico on Monday night for a three-day state visit that includes activities in Mexico City and the Yucatán Peninsula. The royal couple have previously visited the country twice, in 1982 and 2002.
They were invited to Mexico by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, marking his first time hosting members of a royal family during his term.
“It is an honor to be Mexican. We are very pleased and grateful for their visit,” López Obrador said in a statement. “We are going to invite the king and queen to visit Diego [Rivera]’s murals. They asked for that. They are intelligent, educated, generous monarchs.”
Upon arrival at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), they were welcomed by Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister María Teresa Mercado, Mexican Ambassador to Sweden Alejandro Alday and Swedish Ambassador to Mexico Gunnar Aldén.
In addition to visiting the National Palace, the monarchs will tour the Senate and the campus of the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM).
On Wednesday morning, the king will inaugurate the Mexico-Sweden Business Forum to discuss sustainable transportation solutions, sustainable mining, the telecommunications industry and healthcare issues.
Before leaving the country, the couple will travel on the Maya Train to Uxmal, where they will meet with representatives of Indigenous communities. Reportedly, the royals will also meet with the governor of Yucatán, Mauricio Vila.
Who are the king and queen of Sweden?
King Carl XVI Gustaf ascended to the throne at age 27, succeeding his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf after he passed away in 1973. The king’s father, second in line to the throne, had died in a plane accident while traveling to Denmark in 1947.
Queen Silvia is the first Swedish queen to have had a professional career. Of German-Brazilian descent, she met King Carl (then crown prince) during the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, where she was working as an interpreter and host.
The couple was married in 1976. The successor to the throne is their daughter Crown Princess Victoria.
Typically, the Swedish royals embark on two to three state visits overseas every year.
With reports from Milenio and El Economista
If I was King of Sweden I’d stay all winter out of my frozen country!
Really hopeful that his visit will bring much closer collaboration between the two countries and that more Swedish companies want to join the 36 organizations in the Swedish delegation to Mexico. Mexico keeps raising interest globally ; )
When I was a child in Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf was just a little crown prince, who had four pretty sisters that we all envied and admired. They always wore new pretty dresses and most of the rest of us children had one for one for summer and another for the winter in cotton or wool, plain and homemade.
The Swedish King will probably like Mexico and be on his best behavior. What you see is what you get is usually what happens. He is not anything like the Americans and generally will not smile unless there is something to smile about. I know he will enjoy a tequila or two!
Queen Sylvia is of German-Brazilian ancestry but speaks Swedish like a native. The King probably speaks very little Spanish – if at all – and I am sure that his English is not all that great. I’m glad Mexico is inviting them to try out the Maya train! Since I lived in Quintana Roo for over ten years late in life, I am following this with great interest. I am very envious, of course, being sold on Mexico for life. A day does not go by that I don’t miss it and I still speak like a Yucateca.
!Viva Mexico!